Interesting. I'd never heard that, and until now, it had never really dawned on me that Vader doesn't/can't wield the lightning. Hmm... So was that something you gathered through some reference or EU book, Peter? Or just your own hypothesis there...?

Both are mentioned in the ROTS Visual Dictionary.

I took a gander at the ROTS Visual Dictionary today when I was wandering around Borders, and it definitely very specifically addresses this issue, by saying:

Since Vader has two artificial arms, he can neither wield Sith lightning, nor endure it. So there ya' go. Of course, the source is rather EU, but still, I think that probably settles that particular issue...

It's a good enough answer to suit me for the most part, but the VD (heh) is definitely EU as well... Though, Lucas's collaboration on any given piece of material can easily vary. I'm not sure if this is from the horse's mouth or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Then again, if it ain't on-screen, it ain't "canon"... So I dunno. My beef is that he still can force pull items to him, choke people, etc... He has offensive and defensive capabilities with the force but no lightning? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me I guess... A hand can produce lightning, but a nub can't? Or a nub with metal covering it? I dunno, but that seems weird in and of itself.

So there ya' go. Of course, the source is rather EU, but still, I think that probably settles that particular issue...

Nah the VD is as much cannon as the movies in my opinion. There's no way it's EU because it coincides too much with the films. I have all 4 VD's and they are like my SW bibles. Novels, comics, etc... that's EU, but these books explain what George just couldn't right into the script. That's just my opinion.

I think Palpy is interested in Luke they way he was interested in Anakin over Dooku, he wanted the younger, more powerful apprentice. One thing that bothers me about the OT now is how Obi Wan and Yoda didn't warn Luke about the Force Lightening. Yoda felt Palpy's lightning firsthand, so he would have to know that if Luke made Palpy mad he could get fried. Obi Wan and Yoda both showed that they could block Dooku's lightning, so why not give Luke a quick course on how to keep from getting cooked? Obi Wan must have left some books for Luke in his home, how else would Luke have built his saber? Why couldn't Obi Wan have left a force lightning book in a place Luke would find it? Why couldn't Yoda have mentioned something about it when Luke came back to Dagobah? I know we wouldn't have had Vader's redemption in the way we got it, but it now looks like Obi Wan and Yoda missed something important in their training of Luke.